I am not an expert on gardening. To try and enlighten myself on the subject, seeing as it is something Our Lord likes to talk about, I decided to research some growing tips from 2 of the UK’s favourite gardeners – Monty Don and Alan Titchmarsh. Here’s a couple of pearls of wisdom from our experts. “When growing seeds,” Monty Don insists, “it is important they have a strong start. Seeds need to be spread out evenly.” Titchmarsh agrees, “there is no going back once the seeds have been moistened.” He recommends “fish, blood and bone meal” can be added to soil to promote healthy growing. And for further advice, he suggests, “consult the instructions on the packaging of your seeds.” So there we have it, we are now all up to speed on how to grow and ready to think about today’s readings!Why does Our Lord talk so much about plants and gardening? He calls himself the true vine, He tells us the parable of the sower, and then we have the mustard seed – which He uses as a metaphor for faith, as well as the Kingdom of God, as we have heard in today’s Gospel. The most apparent reason for this analogy is that growth is a fundamental part of our walk with Jesus.Today, for the first time since before Lent, we have a Sunday where we are back in green. You will have noticed that the altar cloths and vestments are green – which means we are in the season of Ordinary Time – a time of growth. We had Lent when we stripped things back, and we had the Sundays after Easter, a joyful time to celebrate the resurrection of Our Lord. Now we have a time to grow and go deeper. Seasons are a helpful focus for us, because they keep us grounded in the cyclical nature of life. It can be very easy for us to think of things in a linear way – a person is born, goes to school, gets a job, maybe has a family, retires, dies. In actual fact we are part of something that is far more exciting, a relationship with God where he draws us back to Himself constantly, helping us to grow as the seasons change. Instead of thinking of it purely as a circle, perhaps a helix or corkscrew is probably a better comparison when we consider how God pulls us into Himself as we journey deeper with Him. For every time we ignore God, He will always pull us back. We come to understand His character better as we live more and more in His grace. One of the great things about the parables of Jesus, is that due to their visual nature, we are able to imagine things which can take us beyond ourselves and our immediate surroundings. The image today of a tree that stretches out its branches for the birds to shelter in its shade is wonderful. I wonder if Jesus referred to the natural world so often, not just because it is something that everyone can relate to, but also because it is something that should be celebrated and focussed on more! We only have to look back on our last year of lockdowns to recognise humanity’s desperate need to reconnect with nature. We have found solace and encouragement in those moments we have been able to look outside. A chance to see things from a new perspective in the quiet, slow times of focussing on nature. The poem “God’s Garden” by Dorothy Frances Gurney sums this up perfectly – “One is nearer God’s heart in the garden, than anywhere else on earth.”Back to today’s Gospel and the parable of the mustard seed. Perhaps the most prominent lesson to come out of this reading is the realisation that from small humble beginnings can come big things. I’m not going to talk about how I think we need to pay more attention to the small things in life. I think actually, we know this pretty well. Most people like the underdog. They like to support the small person and generally hold people who are big headed with suspicion. What perhaps is more helpful, is to think about what it means to be small. Consider the things that make us feel that way, and use that as a starting point. If God wants to get the best out of us in His growing Kingdom, then it’s a good idea that we understand where we start from.Our smallness is not just about the things which hold us back. There are many positive sides to starting small. For example, a person with few friends may be much happier than someone who knows lots of people. Or someone who has a small allotment, might be much more content than a person who owns many acres. On the other hand, possessions, finances and skills can play a part in how we feel about ourselves in a negative way, and sometimes the comparisons we make and the opinions of others can make us feel small. Some feelings of smallness can be self-induced though. We might be guilty of false humility or play the victim card in every situation. One thing that is really important is not to judge ourselves too much based on how we feel. We have all had times when we can look back on our lives and said we have felt stronger. We might have thought our faith was stronger in past occasions, or maybe we thought we were liked by more people. We need to remember Our Lord begins a new work in us each day, so we shouldn’t concern ourselves with looking back too much.  In our weakest states we might feel we are not capable of growing anything that is good. “People just ain’t no good” – the song by the appropriately named Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds. On first hearing, this song sounds like it could only make us feel despair, but, as hard as it is to swallow, I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad place to start from. For when we realise we are entirely in need of God’s grace and forgiveness, then we can begin to look forward, ask Him to do the work in us and try all we can to cooperate with His will. “When I am weak, then I am strong,” says St Paul. Meaning, God will raise us up from our smallest state. We have to play our part though – as we grow, God will call us into a new way of being.It would be naive to think that as we grow, the only way is up, and there will be no set backs. I am a big fan of the Mr Men story books by Roger Hargreaves. Mr Small, one of his characters, shows us that the journey to growth involves picking ourselves up many times when we fall. Mr Small lives under a daisy in the garden, and when one day he decides to get himself a job, he discovers that finding the right career is a challenge for him. Again, rather appropriately for today’s Gospel, he gets a job working in a restaurant as someone who is responsible for putting the lids on mustard pots. The problem is he is too small and keeps falling in the jars. The same thing happens when putting matches into matchboxes, and eggs into egg boxes. I won’t tell you what happens in the end, in case you read it, but it does work out well for Mr Small. As God’s Kingdom grows we might find that we have to try new things and adapt to our surroundings. If we fall in a mustard pot, we must  wipe ourselves off and carry on. This could mean a change of direction or just trying again.  There is something else that we can learn from today’s Gospel, and that is when we understand a bit more about what a mustard plant is like. Don’t worry, I’m not going to quote Alan Titchmarsh again. The Franciscan Friar and writer Richard Rohr talks about the properties of growing mustard, describing it as something that is “medicinal, as well as an untameable weed”. Rohr makes the observation that maybe Our Lord chose the mustard seed in this parable, not just because it is small, but because it is associated with healing, as well as something that spreads wildly and rapidly. Do those qualities sound appealing? When we think of the good news we share as Christians, the message we give should bring healing, and by the grace of God spread far, wide, and quickly! In the meantime though, while the Kingdom grows, we have to be patient. (All gardeners will know the need for this virtue.) We have to live in the tension, as Rohr explains “knowing the grace and freedom to live God’s dream for the world now – while not rejecting the world as it is.” Perhaps this is what St Paul meant in today’s second reading when he talks about the contrast of living in the body while being exiled from it.We might find other things from the image of the mustard plant that I have not picked up on, but I hope that from this sermon we can see that Our Lord encourages us to appreciate God’s goodness in nature through His teachings. He also wants us to know that He will grow us from humble beginnings, but it is no use saying, “God use me, God use me”, if we don’t make those baby steps.For a final bit of inspiration, you’ll be pleased to know Mr Small and the other Mr Men got together to record a song about gardening – I’ll quote it in a minute for you. Their advice is actually pretty on point and links quite nicely back to our advice from Don and Titchmarsh from the start. In the early stages of our growth, we need to take care and watch out for what we sow. As the seeds that we plant in God’s Kingdom grow, we will be responsible for nurturing and caring for them. By this I mean our work in the lives of others. Of course it is not all down to us, and some of our efforts may not show the fruit that we imagine we will see. We must take comfort in the knowledge that we are in the loving, capable, skilled hands of Our Lord – the Master Gardener.Beware, beware, beware of what you grow.It’s all in the seeds you sow, beware of what you grow.When it comes to gardening, there’s nothing more alarming.Make sure you plant with care, don’t throw those seeds just anywhere.Beware, beware, beware of what you grow.It could happen awful speedy, that your garden gets all weedy.But it’s not beyond repair, just mow your lawn if you dare.Beware, beware, beware of what you grow.It’s all in the seeds you sow, beware of what you grow.        Amen